Saturday, March 15, 2008

Izu Oshima is volcanic island 120 km South of Tokyo. It lies close to Izu peninsula and on clear day can be seen from Izu peninsula and sometimes from Shonan beach as well. It belongs to Tokyo actually, so I put it under Tokyo in blog.

In first video, I am going by hydrofoil. This hydrofoil is like an airplane, it even had airplane style safety card and individual life jackets. Passengers had to use seatbelts all the time, because in case hydrofoil hits large object like whale, it could send passengers flying in the cabin. Hydrofoil was twitched by waves somehow differently than boat. When it stopped in port, its nose dived down a little bit.

After arrival took bus to Mihara volcano directly from port. Mountain is not high - it is just under 800m. Last erruption here was 20 years ago, but small one. Today it is very silent. Below top, traces of lava flow can be seen as small canyons. Next to vulcano is wast field with long grass which looks like savanna. Savanna gradually turns into forest with small trees. In this forest I actually got lost a little, but its just part of travel - to be lost sometimes.

Image: Small tori gate on vulcano top. One vulcano side has concrete access trail

Image: Looking into crater

Image: Look on vast lava field

Image: Savanna type field continues up to horizon

I did not see any supermarkets or 24h kiosks (konbini) on island. Maybe they were on other side of island. I had some food which I bought before coming to island. When traveling to remote islands, some light, but high calories food, is essential.

Access: Tokaikisen ferry links to Izu Oshima. They have hydrofoil and night ferry. Night ferry takes one night to reach Izu Oshima, while hydrofoil makes it in one hour. Here is town homepage information about tourst attractions.